The embodiment relates to a cooling system for an electric vehicle and a control method thereof.
Recently, in order to prevent the driving cost of a vehicle from being increasing due to a high oil price, and reduce a contamination material produced when an internal combustion engine of a vehicle is operated, an electric vehicle, which is a transportation using an electric motor, or both of the electric motor and the internal combustion engine as driving power sources, has been spotlighted.
The electric vehicle uses an electric motor as a driving power source. In general, the electric vehicle operates the electric motor by using a rechargeable battery charged by an external charging unit as a power source. In the above electric vehicle, the electric motor and a motor control unit to control the electric motor are cooled by cooling water through a water-cooled scheme.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a cooling system for an electric vehicle according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, the electric vehicle according to the related art includes a plurality of electronic parts 2 including an electric motor 1. In addition, the operation of the electric motor 1 is controlled by a motor control unit 3. The motor control unit 3 includes a switching module 4 to turn on/turn off power applied to the electric motor 1 and a control module 5 to control the operation of the switching module 4. In addition, the electronic parts 2 and a main control unit 6 may be named an electric control unit (ECU) or a vehicle control unit (VCU).
The electric vehicle according to the related art includes a water pump 7 to cool the electronic parts 2, the motor control unit 3, and the main control unit 6, and a temperature sensor 8. The operation of the water pump 7 is controlled by the main control unit 6. In addition, if the water pump 7 is operated, cooling water circulates to cool the electronic parts 2, the motor control unit 3, and the main control unit 6. The temperature sensor 8 detects the temperature of the cooling water circulating by the water pump 7 to send the temperature of the cooling water to the main control unit 6.
However, the cooling system for the electric vehicle according to the related art has the following problems.
If the main control unit 6 controls even the operation of the water pump 7, the main control unit 6 controls several electronic parts 2. Accordingly, when the water pump 7 is controlled by the main control unit 6, a greater load may be applied to the main control unit 6.
In addition, as described above, as the greater load is applied to the main control unit 6, the main control unit 6 may be erroneously operated. In addition, when the main control unit 6 may be erroneously operated, the operation of the water pump 7 is not performed, so that the electronic parts 2 may be overheated, thereby causing the erroneous operation or the failure of a produce.